Questions and Answers

1) How your introduce your new puppy to your existing family companions living with in your home is very important. Wait for your new puppy to become calm and curious prior to any introduction.

2) With any animal do not place your puppy face to face with your existing family member. Direct eye contact when forced can be mistaken for aggression and lead to a bad first impression between the two animals.

3) With animals such as cats, hamsters, pet rabbits, etc. it is important to teach your puppy not to set chase. This will take patients as for a puppy it is play. But your other pets will not see it this way and in defense react in ways that may injure themselves or the puppy.

3) With farm animals the best thing to do is to teach your puppy his/her boundaries. Large farm animals can be dangerous to your puppy and teaching him/her to simply stay away is best.

4) With other dogs first and foremost make sure your existing family member is healthy, well socialized, and ready for a playmate. With no direct eye contact set your puppy down and observe. Let them sniff and smell - this is how dogs get to know each other. If tensions start to rise, correct the behavior immediately.

5) Resist the temptation to always "take the side" of the puppy over your existing family member to avoid jealousy issues.

1) Olde English Bulldogges have a natural tendency to ignore or not bother most smaller animals. They simply pose not threat to them and thus are not "worth their time".

2) The original Bulldog of old was a working dog. Used to control the butcher's bull and bring him in by the nose, prior to the bull baiting days of England. Some OEB's still have that strong instinct to herd and control these larger animals. Training your Olde English Bulldogge to have boundaries and limitations around cattle and horses is important.

3) Most Olde English Bulldogges get along wonderfully with other dogs (same or different breed). But we do recommend (even if spayed or neutered) a male/female dog house hold works best.

Q} What colors do bulldogs come in?

A} They can be: brindle, white, piebald or solid, black, red, or fawn.

Q} Brindle? Fawn? Piebald?

A} A brindle coat has black striping over the base color. A piebald coat is made of big splotches of color (think of the basic black and white cow.) Fawn is similar to red. The best way to understand and recognize the variations to see them.

Tempermental Questions

Q} Why are all Bulldogs so lazy?

A} They're not all lazy.

Q} Then how come most of the pictures I see of them show them lounging around? Half of them are too lazy to even keep their tongues' in their mouth?!?!

A} Yeah, O.K.- most of them are pretty lazy. When they're young they can be pretty active though. Truthfully, even as adults they can be surprisingly quick and agile - when they're awake of course

Q} How come I see lots of people dressing up their bulldogs in hats, sunglasses, and dumb little outfits?

A} Cause it's fun.

Q} Are bulldogs good with kids?

A} In general, bulldogs are terrific with small children. There have been numerous studies and rankings of how various dog breeds do with small children. I have never seen one that didn't have Bulldogs at the top of the list. Bulldogs are still dogs though, and no dog should be left unsupervised with very small children.

Q} Are bulldogs good with cats or other pets?

A} Again, in general bulldogs are pretty good with other pets. This is largely because bulldogs were never bred to hunt or kill other animals like many hounds and terriers. Also, sleeping on a couch is much easier (especially for mature bullies.)

Behavioral Questions

Q} What's this I hear about a "kidney bean dance"?

A} Most bulldogs do a very funny little "dance" when they're very happy. Instead of wagging their tails they wiggle their entire butt from side to side, and at the same time they turn their heads to that side. They'll do this from side to side very quickly. When looking down on them their bodies look like the shape of a kidney bean that's shaking back and forth. Many different dogs will do a slow KBD when you scratch their behind, but I have never seen any other dog breed do the dance quite like bulldogs do.

Q} Do bullies make good guard/protection dogs?

A} No, not really. Some criminals might be scared off by their tough-guy looks, but that's about it. Many bulldogs are very heavy sleepers so they might not even wake up if you were being burglarized.

A} That seems to vary quite a bit from individual to individual. For the most part, our dogs rarely drool

Housebreaking

If done properly, housebreaking your English Bulldog does not have to be as much of a hassle as some owners make it to be.

Your English Bulldog is a creature of habit. If it is taught where you want it to eliminate, and you control its food and water intake to regulate when it will eliminate, you will have a happy relationship relatively free of accidents.

The biggest mistake made by English Bulldog owners is inconsistency. It is important that you first choose the method of housebreaking appropriate for you and your pet and secondly stick with it. We know of many English Bulldog owners who are impatient or inconsistent when housebreaking their pets. The end result is a pet that is never fully housebroken.

So, remember the three P's - persistence, patience and praise, and you are guaranteed success.